When my touch first updated to 2.3.1 it seemed pretty good -- better than 2.1.5. However, at the time I was reading a pdf which was handled a bit better under 2.3.1 than 2.1.5. All good apart from no longer having a software home button and a perceived rapid battery drain -- not absolutely sure on this but pretty sure.

However when I started reading an epub and it wouldn't return to the last viewed page when returning from home I became unhappy. After some testing I found that it didn't happen on all epubs but it was happening on lots of them. I noticed that lots of other people on this forum are having the same problem. I thought "oh well, I'll manually bookmark the page and then use 'go to page' from the annotations screen to get back" but I found that this had the same problem.

As I refer to several books in each day this was an absolute deal breaker for me and as I don't use a micro sd card for additional storage and I was quite happy with 2.1.5 I decided to change back. I first tried to do this by doing a factory reset to 1.9.1.3 then side loading to 2.0.4 [I'm in Australia so it's necessary I believe] and then side loading to 2.1.5. Not until 2.1.5 was up did I sign in to Kobo which I notice is required to use the device. I made the mistake by doing this over wi-fi which meant that after I signed in it upgraded the touch to 2.3.1 and I could do nothing other than let it update to 2.3.1. Complete fail.

I waited a couple of days thinking "well, they will fix it soon so I will just be patient" but the whole thing became so annoying and my faith in Kobo in being able to fix it without introducing more bugs was so strong that I was actually considering buying a new sony and junking the touch even though I love it for many reasons.

Anyway, I decided to try to take it back to 2.1.5 one more time and did it successfully this way. I factory reset it to 1.9.1.3 then side loading to 2.0.4 and then side loading to 2.1.5. Then I chose to sign in to Kobo using the desktop application. It did its thing including forcing an upgrade to 2.3.1. However, before ejecting it and letting it update I simply accessed the .kobo folder on the touch and deleted the 3 update files that are of the same name as the files in the side loaded updates. I then ejected and found that I had 2.1.5 but was signed in to Kobo so was fully functional. The books that I had bought from Kobo I trashed in my Kobo account and use Calibre to manage them.

I am happy once again to have a properly [well, fairly properly] functioning device and I won't be shifting from 2.1.5 in a hurry. My hope is that this story may help others to switch back if they find that 2.1.5 was ok for them and 2.3.1 is too annoying.

To answer the last question: Because it isn't happening to everyone. It has not happened to me on two devices at 2.3.1. Several other people have reported the same thing.

The only other comment is that you don't need to put 2.0.4 on the device. I think that installing that once fixed the issue. My Touch was definitely one of the problem ones. When I last reset it, it went straight to 2.3.1. Also, I believe the problem was only with devices that had 1.9.11 as the factory firmware. If you have 1.9.13, it shouldn't have been a problem.

The only other comment is that you don't need to put 2.0.4 on the device. I think that installing that once fixed the issue. My Touch was definitely one of the problem ones. When I last reset it, it went straight to 2.3.1. Also, I believe the problem was only with devices that had 1.9.11 as the factory firmware. If you have 1.9.13, it shouldn't have been a problem.

Thanks, that is good to know. I did wonder about what steps to go through.
Anyway. I'm very happy now and hopefully Kobo will have the main things fixed for most people in the not too distant.

Personally, I hope that Rakuten HQ takes firmware development out of Kobos hands and puts a whole new development team in place.
I lost my faith in Kobo's firmware update for every bug they fix you'll get two other bugs in return.
And it seems they don't listen (enough?) to user feed back or feature (improvement) request.
Sure, they don't have to implement every feature request. But some request are so fundamental or basic to e-readers there is almost no reason not to implement them in any possible way.
There are numerous basic features available on old ereader (2010 and older) devices that are missing on the KT (and Glo) while those devices also run on the same OS.

We (users) need a clear roadmap on firmware development so we can better judge and measure de progress of Kobo's firmware development.

Well, I dicovered that I received an authentic 1.9.11 for Christmas last year.

So the 2.3.1 was a bunch of trouble for me too. Should I bring to court Kobo or will they replace our 1.9.11 defective unit they pushed on the market? I know a few lawyers that may like to make a group action against a manafucturer fearful to call official recalls when needed?

Anyway, I managed to fool the unit to believe that I was running 2.1.0 and I poked in the upgrade for 2.2.0 into the .kobo directory. My Bookmarking is back to a friendly behavior. Version is now set to 4.9.9 for safety. I use exclusively epub format.

The Latest Kobo Desktop did not like an 4.9.9 entry at the version number or try to call a function that is not available on the 2.2.0 reader. I do not really care anymore. So, I am at the crossroad of finding a workaround to Kobo desktop, I think Adobe is the widely used solution.

What a waste of customers' time!

Doing software right is a challenge when you chase too many rabbits (feature requests).

Doing software right is a challenge when you chase too many rabbits (feature requests).

like i've said in another thread. every simple task looks like enormous strain for kobo and life threatening operation...and people are spoiled. they want to use their eink readers for making phd thesis on them, with a whole bags of notes, annotations, dictionaries, highlighting texts, exporting notes, reading complicated pdf's with pictutres and diagrams, and god knows what...take a break. put some books, read it, delete it, read another, that's it...if you want to do some serious scientific work go to public library and bring some pens and papers...

like i've said in another thread. every simple task looks like enormous strain for kobo and life threatening operation...and people are spoiled. they want to use their eink readers for making phd thesis on them, with a whole bags of notes, annotations, dictionaries, highlighting texts, exporting notes, reading complicated pdf's with pictutres and diagrams, and god knows what...take a break. put some books, read it, delete it, read another, that's it...if you want to do some serious scientific work go to public library and bring some pens and papers...

I'm a simple guy (or girl... or dog...(this being the internet and all)). I want my ereader to work. I want the cover of the book I'm currently reading to appear on the sleep/power off screen. I want to be able to mark text so I can edit ebooks. I want the book I'm currently reading to stay on the main screen when I add new books to the reader, so I don't have to go into the library/books/next page/next page/next page/next page/next page to get to this book. I want italics to be displayed as italics and not bold. I want to have less than a Grand Canyon's worth of space between lines of text. I want my ebooks to not be deleted if I update on on the device without deleting it first. I want my disk space on the device to be my disk space, not consumed by recommended reads and other advertising. I want to be able to read ebooks on the device without first having to connect it to a PC and have a kobo account. I want to return to the page I was reading when my device went to sleep, not a few pages before. I want the percentage read of the book to be displayed in the library listing. I want the annotation selection to be stable and not randomly change. I want to be able to always select a single word for dictionary lookup purposes and not get the whole page selected and then be told that there is no definition for a whole page worth of text. I want the battery to not come loose in my device and go clunking around inside of it. I want a firmware release that doesn't get pulled and then followed by a bug fix release. I want a device to understand that if I haven't set up any WiFi networks and WiFi is set off, than I probably don't want to enable it on the fly so I can download dictionaries. I want to receive new firmware releases as soon as they are released and not a week later. I want a very long paragraph to not be displayed on the next page, when there is plenty of room left on the current page. I want protection in case I try to load the firmware for the wrong device onto my device (or in case Kobo tries to do this accidentally). I want devices with obvious manufacturing defects (bright pixels) to not be put on sale. I want to not be forced to update to a new version of the firmware. I don't want the font size to shrink to the smallest possible when moving to a new chapter. I don't want the font size to not jump for acceptable to huge in one jump of the adjustment slider. I want the table of contents to keep track of where I am in the book. I want proper shelf behaviour. I want to be able to select the last character of a paragraph (ok... I can do this accidentally sometimes, but never on purpose). I want the rest of the line to be displayed when the last line of a paragraph is at the top of a screen and the last word is hypenated. I want the annotations to be displayed in a specific order, not in a random one.

Update: I'm really quite happy with 2.1.5 as I don't use an msd card or need series info. Unless Kobo brings out some rock solid firmware with some must have new features I'm just going to pretend that there are no more updates until I get my next ereader [probably a Kobo again if I can find reasonably stable firmware for it]. I will be doing a lot of research though before I buy anything.

I'm a simple guy (or girl... or dog...(this being the internet and all)).

Gee, for a dog on the internet, you don't want much. Maybe we need to get your Kobo to throw a stick for you to chase

I did read through it all and I have seen some on my devices but not others. I have seen reports on most and disagree with a few.

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I want my disk space on the device to be my disk space, not consumed by recommended reads and other advertising.

Recommended reads only take a single row in the database. If you download a preview, that takes space, but they only get downloaded when you ask for them. That might have changed from earlier firmware.

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I want the percentage read of the book to be displayed in the library listing.

I don't think I have heard that one before. Any ideas as to when it happens?

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I want a device to understand that if I haven't set up any WiFi networks and WiFi is set off, than I probably don't want to enable it on the fly so I can download dictionaries.

I don't think I have changed the dictionaries with the WiFi turned off before. Personally, that prompt is reasonable and something is needed so that a user who then tries to use the dictionary will know why it isn't there.

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I want proper shelf behaviour.

What does that mean?

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I want the annotations to be displayed in a specific order, not in a random one.

This is the longest standing bug I can think of. And it has always baffled me. I've looked at the database and I can't see how anyone could mess up the order like this. And that it changes when you delete an annotation adds to the mystery.

Recommended reads only take a single row in the database. If you download a preview, that takes space, but they only get downloaded when you ask for them. That might have changed from earlier firmware.

The cached images take up space.

I was going to say: And, I have five kepubs, but there should be none.

But, one of them is probably legitimate. The other 4 are Project Gutenburg bokks in a variety of languages that are not in any of the lists on the devices. They are probably the free books that they give you. Changing the language of the device doesn't make them visible.

Is this a bug or a feature?

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Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't think I have heard that one before. Any ideas as to when it happens?

I've been formatting an ebook (which involved multiple loads, look, delete cycles) and noticed, in the library, that the book I was currently reading was marked as unread.

In fact, the book I'm currently reading, having gone from Chapter 6, page 52 to Home to Library, shows the book as 'unread'.

Also, the wrong book cover is displayed.

And, another bug, it usually takes the Kobo a while (about halfway into the book) before it shows a book cover at all, rather than the graphic Kobo face.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't think I have changed the dictionaries with the WiFi turned off before. Personally, that prompt is reasonable and something is needed so that a user who then tries to use the dictionary will know why it isn't there.

Then maybe a simple: the dictionaries will be loaded when you next connect to the internet prompt would be clearer. As it is, it asks for WiFi, and when you cancel it, that's it. (this is from memory and may have changed. At least they got rid of the 'network error' dialog when you canceled the WiFi dialog).

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Originally Posted by davidfor

What does that mean?

Isn't there some problem with multiple shelves being created?

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

This is the longest standing bug I can think of. And it has always baffled me. I've looked at the database and I can't see how anyone could mess up the order like this. And that it changes when you delete an annotation adds to the mystery.

Yeah. And probably one of the simplest to fix. I mean, how difficult can using 'ORDER BY' be?

I was going to say: And, I have five kepubs, but there should be none.

But, one of them is probably legitimate. The other 4 are Project Gutenburg bokks in a variety of languages that are not in any of the lists on the devices. They are probably the free books that they give you. Changing the language of the device doesn't make them visible.

Is this a bug or a feature?

It sounds like a bug and something hasn't been cleaned up. It would be interesting to see if the books are in the database.

I haven't checked if there are any extra sitting in the kepubs directory on mine. Hopefully not as both have been reset recently. I have also bought a few books recently, so there are a few kepubs

I'll grant the cover images for the recommendations take space. I can't say it bothers me much. I actually did buy something that was recommendation recently.

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I've been formatting an ebook (which involved multiple loads, look, delete cycles) and noticed, in the library, that the book I was currently reading was marked as unread.

In fact, the book I'm currently reading, having gone from Chapter 6, page 52 to Home to Library, shows the book as 'unread'.

When you opened it again, does it go the the right place (or approximately so with the current firmware). I have seen this, but only when I have been fiddling with the database. And there was a bug in the calibre driver that did it.

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Also, the wrong book cover is displayed.

And, another bug, it usually takes the Kobo a while (about halfway into the book) before it shows a book cover at all, rather than the graphic Kobo face.

Weird. Covers are working perfectly here.

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Then maybe a simple: the dictionaries will be loaded when you next connect to the internet prompt would be clearer. As it is, it asks for WiFi, and when you cancel it, that's it. (this is from memory and may have changed. At least they got rid of the 'network error' dialog when you canceled the WiFi dialog).

It asked me to connect with two options "Cancel" and "Connect". It would make sense to change the "Cancel" to "Skip" or "Not now" or something like that.
[QUOTE]
Isn't there some problem with multiple shelves being created?
[QUOTE]
That was a problem on the server and seems to have been fixed. But it shouldn't have happened.

Quote:

Yeah. And probably one of the simplest to fix. I mean, how difficult can using 'ORDER BY' be?

It isn't quite that simple because the position in the book isn't a simple number. But, the ORDER BY would at least give a consistent order.

When you opened it again, does it go the the right place (or approximately so with the current firmware). I have seen this, but only when I have been fiddling with the database. And there was a bug in the calibre driver that did it.

Yes.

I don't use Calibre.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

It isn't quite that simple because the position in the book isn't a simple number. But, the ORDER BY would at least give a consistent order.

At the least it can be order by the order in which the annotations were created.

I agree to most of the comments Murg made. He sums up quite a lot of basic ("common sense") ereader reading functions that should be easy to use.

I really, really don't like the reading recommendations Kobo makes. It doesn't work (desktop and website).
I've set many books titles to "not interested" but most of those books keep showing up in the recommendation list.
And the option "already read" doesn't seem to work at all. Books don't disappear from the list or don't keep the "already read" status.